Cygnet Weekly Update: Monday 19th Jan 2015

Evenin' All,

A cold but busy weekend. Albeit with much heat emanating from the shed on Saturday morning as a good number of us completed our 5k tests. It was a beautiful thing, and it did everyone good to see crewmates giving it their all. Thanks all who clocked a time (and as ever, any time is infinitely better than no time at all), and thanks to Sue for sticking around to encourage each of us in our ordeal.

This week

- Tues evening, Squad Erg Night. 50mins feet out, rating 20-22. Blimey.

- Thurs evening, Circuits. Usual time (7.15pm), usual place (Cavendish School). Numbers had dropped off a bit from an encouraging start, so do please try and make it - the more the merrier.

- Thurs evening, food after training - Matt B will be cooking up a feast, let him know if you're staying.

- Sat & Sun mornings - crew-lists and outing times to be confirmed later in the week.

Other stuff

- We're entering at least one crew, and hopefully two, for the Quintin Head on 31st Jan - so please make sure you're available if called. Various combinations have been going afloat over the past couple of weeks, but a key aim is to get as many of us our first Head race experience for a long while (or ever, in some cases).

- Sincerely hope that Thursday 12th Feb is firmly in your diaries, for our 125th anniversary drinks. 7pm, Duke's Head, Putney. With perhaps some associated revelry.

- We will be running our next Learn-To-Row course in April, which means planning and marketing now. In particular, if you know of any friends/ colleagues/ acquaintances who might fancy having a go, do let them know and encourage them. A very high proportion of Cygnets learned to row at this club, which is great.

Kit reminders:

- the ordering window closes on 9th Feb. http://godfrey.co.uk/club/cygnetrc

- if you order that time the most you'll pay for an item is the '2-11 items' price (even if you're the only one), e.g. £54 for an all-in-one, £70 for a 'Mazu' gilet.

- if you're minded to get something to mark Cygnet's 125th year, a number of us will be investing in the Cygnet 'Zephyr' - which is fetchingly retro, and indeed is probably the only bit of kit that any of the original 1890 members would recognise...

- finally I have a couple of bits of brand new kit that Godfrey gave us as samples, yours for a reduced price (to go to into the Cygnet coffers): Cygnet 'Custom Finesse All-in-one' (L) £50 ono, and a Cygnet 'Custom Mazu Gilet' (L) £65 ono. Let me know.

Other reminders:

As we approach the first competitive race of the year, now is a particularly important time to make sure that you're up to date with your British Rowing membership - as we literally can't enter you into a race without it. Also, if you're a CSSC member, worth ensuring that that's still valid.

And finally:

There will shortly be a number of 'opportunities' coming up on the Cygnet Committee, and indeed on the Boathouse Exec. None too onerous, all good for the soul, and all playing a crucial role in the well-being of the rowing club and boathouse that we know so well. Nomination forms will be issuing shortly, but do have a think now whether you could lend a hand on one of the committees - the club and boathouse really do depend entirely on volunteers to keep things working so that we can all enjoy ourselves.

That's all for now.

D